Monthly Archives: August 2014

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Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed Unity will be released on November 11 in the US and on November 13 in EMEA.

The two extra weeks will help ensure that the quality of the game meets fans’ — and the team’s — lofty expectations. This news has no impact on the company’s full year financial targets, which Ubisoft also confirms today.

“As we got close to the finish, we realized we were near the target but still needed a bit more time to hone some of the details to make sure Assassin’s Creed Unity is exceptional,” says Vincent Pontbriand, senior producer at Ubisoft. “We sincerely appreciate players’ commitment to the game and their patience. It’s just a couple more weeks. And it’s going to be worth it.”

Unity Technologies, the creator of Unity, a flexible and high-performance development platform used to make creative and intelligent interactive 3D and 2D experiences, announced the winners of the 2014 Unity Awards at the 2014 Unite Conference in Seattle, WA.

Unity Technologies began the Unity Awards to honor the developers creating the best video games and interactive 3D and 2D applications using the Unity development platform. This year’s winners were chosen by a combined vote between Unity Technologies and the Unity community of developers. The winners are:

Best Student Project – The Rift: U.R.I.D.I.S. by URIDIS Team from ISART Digital
Best 3D Visual Experience – Monument Valley by ustwo
Best 2D Visual Experience – The Bridge by The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild
Best Gameplay – Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment
Technical Achievement – Shader Forge by Joachim Holmér
Best VizSim Project – Minto Longbranch Visualization from NVYVE
Best Non-game Project – Art and Skin by Alexx Henry Studios
Community Choice – Monument Valley by ustwo
Golden Cube – Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment
The Unity Technologies team was the judges for the awards. In spring 2015, open nominations for the next Unity Awards will begin.

The World Series of Video Games (WSVG), an internationally recognized gaming and electronic sports name, has announced its official comeback with the release of their new website (www.wsvg.net), software (WSVG BattleRoom) and mission.

Gaming is now a global phenomenon, and this new platform expects to improve the gaming experience of both casual and hardcore gamers around the world.

The WSVG was initially released in 2006 by Games Media Properties Inc. and achieved amazing success over the course of two seasons, with a special highlight being the main event held in China with more than 100.000 visitors. WSVG was also featured on the CBS network with its own TV show for four seasons, with each episode having 1 hour of broadcasting.

Luis Prata was recently appointed as CEO of the World Series of Video Games, Inc. He has been an influential entrepreneur in gaming and electronic sports since 1998, leading some of the first professional eSports teams, and organizing gaming events since 2006. Besides his position at WSVG, he is also a consultant to several sports organizations around the world.

Message from the CEO, Luis Prata:

“It has been a privilege to lead many young men and women throughout the years in the gaming industry, creating along the way the foundations for gaming as a competitive sport, available to anyone, anywhere, regardless of any physical disabilities, color, race or beliefs and bringing together people that otherwise would never meet. I will continue to promote gaming as a social platform for youth development, to end racial or other forms of segregation and offer a new vision on the importance of video games to society. I am dedicated to these goals and I would like to thank you for your continuous support.”

Now, the waiting seems to be over and WSVG appears ready to show the world its new face. With the increasing importance of electronic sports today, the WSVG is invested in bringing something innovative to a market that has much untapped potential. A major part of that innovative side will be their brand new gaming software called WSVG BattleRoom, which features proprietary technology and a powerful multi-game anti-cheat system.

WSVG is making its message loud and clear: no cheating! As electronic sports expands quickly, with increasing audiences and professional players, WSVG feels the absolute need to run cheat-free online competitions, which is increasingly important as the prize moneys have grown exponentially over the past couple of years. That’s what WSVG is aiming to achieve with this brand new software; WSVG BattleRoom will bring equality and justice to every online competitions: not only on the WSVG website and championships. Another innovative goal that the WSVG is looking to achieve is to supply their software to everyone. The software will be made available for free, not only for gamers around the world but also for league and tournament organizers. WSVG recognizes that there are only a few reliable anti-cheat tools and that none of them is openly available to everyone.

Besides that, all players, whether hardcore or casual, can find a great competitive variety of tournaments and leagues. Moreover, by registering on the website and playing in the competitions, players will be able to request on demand, private gaming servers, in order to play friendly or official matches for free. Those servers are already safe to play on, with the WSVG BattleRoom installed and setup in all of them. As noted on the server page, the WSVG BattleRoom is required for players to be able to play on both the public and private WSVG servers.

WSVG also has a ranking system available for the teams who participate in the competitions, making it even more fun. It is well known that gamers, like any other athletes, want to be the best, and with the ranking system, teams have yet another reason to participate in the competitions.

Part of building a community means that all the players and fans need to know the history of electronic sports as well as all the facts, teams, players, events, and platforms that helped in making eSports a real sport. In order to introduce such a rich history, WSVG also presents an eSports Wiki that features a variety of content, which most importantly gives everyone the opportunity to participate and contribute in building the community.

The goal is simple: WSVG wants to once again become a reference in the world of electronic sports. As a start, they have already acquired many international partners that will feature WSVG BattleRoom as mandatory software in their competitions and events.

World Series of Video Games, Inc. is currently seeking other eSports organizations, such as Live Events and Online Championships, in order to provide support and sponsorship with equipment, know-how and software, empowering the development of this new sport, worldwide.

BioWare, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), today announced the cooperative dungeon crawling multiplayer mode in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Created alongside the massive single player campaign, this marks the first time gamers can play with their friends in the Dragon Age franchise.

The multiplayer mode in Dragon Age: Inquisition will feature action-packed four player cooperative quests separate from the single player open world story.

“For Dragon Age: Inquisition, a special team of veteran developers from the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises created fun, fast-paced multiplayer gameplay that requires strategic teamwork on top of Inquisition’s party-based combat and extensive loot and crafting system,” said Aaryn Flynn, General Manager, BioWare. “It was early in the game’s development that we realized how much fun fans of our series were having, with so many players teaming up in Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer mode. We can’t wait to give Dragon Age fans an even bigger and deeper experience.”

In Dragon Age: Inquisition’s multiplayer mode, four players will team up across a range of multiplayer quests and objectives, exploring intricate dungeons and vanquishing all who oppose them. While dungeon-crawling, players will collect loot, salvage items, craft new weapons and armor, and unlock new characters. At launch, players will be able to unlock up to twelve characters across the three Inquisition classes of Legionnaire, Reaver and Mage, each playing a different and strategic role in multiplayer combat. Multiplayer in Dragon Age: Inquisition is a standalone experience from the open world story players will embark in the main game, and will not have an impact on single player progression or story.

Players can pre-order Dragon Age: Inquisition to get special bonus content. Visit the Dragon Age website for more information on editions, including the Deluxe Edition available for pre-order and the upcoming Inquisitor’s Edition.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) announced today that the release date for Gauntlet, the fully modernized reboot of the classic dungeon crawler, has moved to the 23rd September, 2014.

The additional time was needed to fine-tune details in order to bring gamers an even more robust multiplayer experience.

Gauntlet is still set to arrive on Steam for Windows PC and will offer full support for SteamOS and the upcoming Steam Machines in 2015. As a thank you for all fans who pre-ordered the game, WBIE has added a special in-game item as a bonus: The Spawn of Kerthull, a special Wizard’s Robe made from dead imps, who are children of the greater demon, Kerthull.

In addition, WBIE and developer Arrowhead Game Studios today released a new video that takes an in-depth look into the heroes, game modes and lore of the game.

Gamer Network is delighted to announce an agreement with Gfinity, the leaders in eSports, to provide an exciting competitive gaming feature at this year’s EGX London.

EGX London 2014 is set to become the UK’s largest ever dedicated gaming event with 80,000 attendees expected to fill two floors of London’s Earls Court.

The Gfinity stand will give EGX attendees a comprehensive eSports experience allowing them to meet pro-gamers, take part in mini tournaments with their friends and get tips on becoming a pro.

League of Legends fans are in for a treat and will be immersed in the full eSports experience across the four days as they get a chance to take part in mini competitions with plenty of great prizes up for grabs.

Also, with the release of FIFA 15 scheduled for the week of the event, Gfinity will stage a 4 person, FIFA 15 tournament featuring 4 of the UK’s biggest FIFA You-Tubers in a one-off exhibition match.

David Lilley, MD of Gamer Events, said: “We were impressed by the energy and enthusiasm that Gfinity bring to eSports. We’re excited by the prospect of working with them to provide a fantastic competitive gaming experience to our audience.”

Martin Wyatt, Head of Content & Partner Relations at Gfinity, said: ““We are going to provide some exciting and entertaining competition with the gaming community – everyone who visits EGX can come to our stand, game like a pro and talk to us about getting into eSports. We are excited to be a partner of this great event and look forward to helping others get involved.”

A couple of new games in the charts this week with Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil taking the top spot from The Last Of Us: Remastered. Lower down the chart Tales of Xillia 2 has entered at number ten. As we head towards the stretch towards Christmas the charts should begin picking up pace once again.

These charts cannot be reproduced either in print or online without obtaining permission from Ukie. If you wish to reproduce the charts in print or online, please contact david.smith@ukie.org.uk for the appropriate license.

Position Overview
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO WORK IN THE COMPUTER VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY?
SEGA’s Development Services team is looking for bright and motivated people to join us as Functionality Testers (or Games Testers as they’re more commonly known).
Getting the chance to work on SEGA titles before they hit the shops, you’ll be responsible for testing our titles to ensure they play as the developers intended them to and that they’re free from any ‘bugs’.
These positions are an excellent opportunity for people wanting to start a career in an industry which is fast paced, dynamic and above all fun!
Based at our offices in West London, positions are currently available on our Early Shift (7.30am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday) and our Late Shift (3.00pm to 10.30pm, Monday to Friday).

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
– Follow a test script in a thorough and consistent manner
– Use test scripts and testing skills to finds bugs and identify the severity and risk to the business
– Enter professional, clear, accurate and complete bug descriptions (e.g. using the correct naming conventions, what the bug is, steps to reproduce etc)
– Follows instructions accurately and in a timely manner
– Honestly and effectively communicate important issues and actively work with colleagues when needed
– Assist with coordination of group-based testing

Additional:
– If required, the job holder may be expected to work outside normal office hours, including weekends and/or bank holidays, when necessary. The job holder may also be required to work offsite if necessary.
– The job holder may be expected to execute any additional requests or instructions issued by senior staff or other members of the management team that are suitable to your job remit.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
– Experienced games player with the ability to familiarise with game-play elements rapidly
– High standards of work and willingness to meet and exceed expectations
– Adaptability and willingness to improve processes and own development
– Proactively help and assist colleagues and maintain a ‘can do’ attitude when under pressure
– Clear and concise communicator both written and verbally
– Technical proficiency with Microsoft Office applications
– Ability to work unsupervised and maintain focus and commitment
– Maintain an adaptable approach to testing
– Flexibility to work additional hours if necessary
– Passion and enthusiasm for the role and the company.

If you’re interested in this opportunity then apply now by sending your completed application form and CV across to gamestesters@sega.co.uk
To download an application form please follow this link:http://www.sega.com/jobs/Games_Tester_Application_Form.doc Please note, only applications with completed application forms and CV’s attached will be considered.

Independent Train2Game student studio Derp Studios has been working with Breeze Radio to create Apps that will safeguard the radio station’s future distribution for years to come.

Successful digital radio station Breeze Radio drafted in the young team of Developers to handle creating its Apps. Breeze Radio has been taking steps to make sure it’s global network of listeners can be reached, as technology continues to develop in the ever changing radio broadcast sector.

Derp Studios were tasked with taking Breeze Radio to the next level of distribution before it arrives, creating Apps that will work alongside its digital distribution channels that will work for mobile and reach every corner of the globe. The apps have now been created and the station is ready for the next steps in its successful development, thanks to the team at Derp Studios.

Andy, setup Breeze Radio when he returned from active service previously of the Royal Engineers. He was working with other stations but found that regulations to make the stations more commercially successful were preventing him from delivering the radio he wanted to. He found that radio was no longer beneficial to the listeners and it wasn’t what they wanted to hear, there was too many adverts and not enough music. He wanted to play music people wanted to hear, not what the major labels were forcing people to listen to so they can make millions selling music.

With Andy’s background in the military and living abroad, he knew what the services and x pat communities wanted to hear. Using digital radio he could reach these communities. He planned to give them good radio without the countless adverts and lack of music variety. He wanted to play a selection of music people wanted to hear, not based on marketing demographics but on quality music that everyone would like. He started Breeze radio and found they actually paid more to keep going because they actually played more music than others so had to pay more royalties.

Breeze is now listened to in 128 countries worldwide with 6million listeners tuning in every week. The radio station has ditched the snobby and old fashioned AM/FM broadcasting model and now uses multiple online channels to handle Breeze’s distribution. This is not only cost affective but reaches a global audience, replacing the traditional radio model and overtaking traditional broadcast channels. Digital is also a better platform for receiving accurate data of listeners, rather than the outdated existing audience monitoring techniques.

But there is still one place web based radio is not the dominant broadcast channel; in the car. But that’s where Derp Studios fits in, it has created Android and Windows 8 Apps which mean Breeze can reach every area of the globe. In the near future you’ll be able to use these Apps to tune into Breeze in your car wherever you are in the world, through the 4G network. This will not only help Breeze reach its existing listeners wherever they are, it will also open up the entire world to the delights of Breeze Radio.

As well as building a successful station for all to enjoy Andy has not stopped at that. Breeze Radio now sell digital radios on the site with all profits going to charities across the globe that help with Autism awareness and childhood cancer.

Chris Ledger, Managing Director, Derp Studios: “It’s great to work with Breeze as we agree with their ethos of reaching people with a product that they want. With Breeze’s huge success we’re really pleased they chose us to safeguard them for the future.”

Andy: “It didn’t cost an arm and a leg but the end product is great. The Derp Studios team made a simple solution for a complicated problem. We’re now safely ready to continue to grow our listenership into the future. It’s not about the money for us, we do it for the love of the music and Derp Studios understood that.”

You can find out more about Train2Game, Breeze Radio and Derp Studios at these links

343 has announced new details for the Halo 5: Guardians beta, which will launch in December.

The beta will contain three modes, 11 weapons, seven maps and seven armour sets. The focus is apparently on classic 4v4 arena gameplay, and the maps are thus tailored for smallscale infantry combat rather than epic battles. All players will have the same loadouts to begin with.

You’ll be able to carry over certain content from the beta to the final game.

Additionally, the beta will receive dedicated coverage on the newly announced Halo Channel, a dashboard hub for Halo multiplayer, TV programming and community features.

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